Event Spot Check allows you to set up automatic Spot Checks of events based on a selected report.
When a designated event is created - for instance, a "no sale" transaction - Sidekick reviews a frame from the event, responds to your prompt, and provides an answer within the event card.
Some examples of how you could use Event Spot Check include:
Detect cash theft: Check if a customer is present during a “no sale” or refund to verify if an employee may have pocketed cash.
Monitor queue times: Confirm whether an employee is present when wait times exceed a set threshold.
Watch high-risk zones: See if anyone lingers near high-value displays without employee supervision.
After-hours activity: Identify people lingering or sleeping in vestibules or other off-limit areas after business hours.
How to Create an Event Spot Check
Select the Sidekick button (located at the top of either the Events or Video pages) to get started setting up an Event Spot Check:
Note: Event Spot Check requires a subscription to Solink's AI Package.
To create an Event Spot Check:
Select Event Spot Check near the top of the Sidekick window:
Type a prompt in the search bar OR select a premade prompt (template) directly below the search bar:
In the Prompt field, text is automatically generated to be as descriptive as possible. This field is what the AI uses to review your events. However, you can edit the prompt further if needed:
Sidekick AI also generates a Response Format to ensure the responses to your prompt are clear and consistent. It is recommended to leave this information in place, but you may edit this information:
Select a report you wish to Spot Check:
Under Time Options, select what part of the event the Event Spot Check reviews:
Start: Event Spot Check reviews the first frame of the event.
End: Event Spot Check reviews the last frame of the event.
(Optional) Configure an Offset. This allows you to adjust the frame Event Spot Check analyzes. For example, you can select "Start" and type an Offset of "3" to analyze a frame from the video 3 seconds from the start of the event.
Take note of your Spot Check Balance and Estimated Usage for this Event Spot Check. You are alotted a certain number of Spot Checks per month, so ensure you have enough to run this Event Spot Check:
Note: Event Spot Checks are limited to 30% of your monthly Spot Check quota.
(Optional) Select Preview to perform a test of the Event Spot Check. This allows you to preview if the Event Spot Check runs correctly, while providing an example of the response you may receive to a given event.
Finally, select Run to create the Event Spot Check. You will need to wait for events to start generating in order to see results.
Next, see Edit/Delete Event Spot Checks below if you need to edit or delete your Event Spot Check at any time, or see Locate and Review Event Spot Checks for next steps.
Note: You cannot create an Event Spot Check for a Scheduled Spot Check.
Edit/Delete Event Spot Checks
To edit or delete an active Event Spot Check:
Ensure Event Spot Check is selected in the Sidekick window.
Under Spot Checks, select Active:
Choose either of the following:
Select the "trash bin" icon to delete the Event Spot Check. Please note, Sidekick answers still remain on the event cards even when the Event Spot Check is deleted.
Select the Edit button to make changes to the Event Spot Check.
How to Find Answers for Event Spot Checks
With Event Spot Check, Sidekick (Solink's AI) reviews events and amends the event card with an answer to your prompt.
To view a Sidekick answer:
Locate an affected event on the Events page. Refer to Filter for Event Spot Checks below for more information on how to locate Spot Check events.
Select View Sidekick Answers:
In the answer field, Sidekick provides a state (such as "high suspicion" or "low suspicion") and a short description of how it came to this conclusion.
To get further information - including a count of all people in the frame - select the icon pictured below:
Event Spot Check Filters
On the Events page, select the report you chose to run Event Spot Checks on to easily locate your Event Spot Check results.
There are several filters you can use to further narrow your Event Spot Check search and/or create a report. Select the Add Filter button > AI category and choose one of the following:
Spot Check Answers: Search for any text contained in the Sidekick answer. Alternatively, use this filter to search for Scheduled Spot Check answers.
Spot Check Bystanders: A "bystander" is someone in the frame who is not a person of interest, based on the prompt. Sidekick answers may list the total number of bystanders in the frame.
Spot Check Customers of Interest: The number of customers of interest in the frame, based on the prompt.
Spot Check Employees of Interest: The number of employees of interest in the frame, based on the prompt.
Spot Check Persons: The total number of people between customers, employees, and bystanders.
Spot Check Reasoning: The descriptive text provided when selecting the "expand" icon, providing additional reasoning for the answer:
Spot Check State: Sidekick classifies the answer in various states, such as "High Suspicion" or "Low Suspicion", based on the prompt. This is a valuable filter for creating a widget that track high suspicion transactions.
Spot Check Synopsis: The descriptive text provided in the answer:
How to Create a Widget from an Event Spot Check
You can use Event Spot Check to create many types of widgets. To decide what kind of data to show on the Dashboard, talk to your Customer Success representative.
You can get started by creating a helpful widget that tracks high suspicion transactions - follow the steps below to build this widget.
Create "High Suspicion" Event Spot Check
First, create an Event Spot Check that reviews No Sale transactions to help you catch suspicious activity:
In the Sidekick window, select Event Spot Check.
Select the No Customer Present template:
Choose a report that captures all No Sale transactions. (You may already have this. If not, create it first):
Select Run. It may take time before Event Spot Check starts analyzing events.
Create "High Suspicion" Report
Next, create a report that captures the "high suspicion" No Sale transactions Sidekick reviews:
On the Events page, select the No Sale report you used above:
Filter to only show events that Sidekick reviewed as "High Suspicion":
Select Add Filter > AI category > Spot Check State > is "High Suspicion":
Select Save Report and give the report a clear name.
Create "High Suspicion" Widget
Once you have saved the report, create the widget:
On the Dashboard page, select +Widget.
Select the report you just saved:
Customize the widget as needed. Assign the AI tag to this widget so that it is published on the AI tab:
Select Create Widget.
You can check your widget any time from the Dashboard page > AI tab. Use the filters at the top to change the timeframe:
(Optional) Review High Suspicion Events
You can verify Sidekick's findings by manually reviewing flagged events with Solink's Event Flow feature. You can also create a widget to track whenever a transaction is confirmed suspicious after human review.
To review transactions using Event Flow:
Set up a custom Event Flow to review these transactions with your own questions.
Double-click on a data point in the widget. This opens the "drill-down" window where you can see more in-depth data for each transaction.
Select View Event to watch footage from each event:
4. Select the event on the left-side, then select Review to answer the set of questions you configured for the Event Flow:
To track confirmed suspicious transactions:
Create a new widget using a report that filters your Event Flow responses.
For help setting this up, see the Event Flow guide.
